Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy

The wild and the wacky of this sequel.

Picking apart humor is kind of like dissecting a frog. You might figure out how it works, but it'll tend to die in the process. Nevertheless, we decided to have a chat with the producer of Lego Star Wars 2 about creating the humor in the game, why it's one of the few parody franchises that actually works, and what we'll have to look forward to this next time around. No frogs were killed through the course of the interview. Some Ewoks got maimed a little bit, but nobody likes them anyway.

1UP: Lego Star Wars is different from a lot of other franchises because of its lighthearted nature. What kind of stuff can you get away with in a Lego setting that wouldn't work in a more traditional Star Wars game?

David Perkinson, LucasArts producer: I don't think it's unreasonable to inject humor into more traditional Star Wars games, but the LEGO license definitely allows us to go wild with it. Whereas a traditional Star Wars game might depend upon something like HK-47 calling humans "meatbags" repeatedly in Knights of the Old Republic, the LEGO Star Wars games have an inherent tongue-in-cheek charm to them by way of the characters. Just look at these guys! They're basically cute, more cartoon-like versions of iconic characters in pop culture, and you can't help smile, if not even let out a genuine chuckle, the first time you see them. There's an inherent look to them that says, "Please don't take this seriously." Luckily, the guys at Traveller's Tales know how to capitalize on that to its fullest extent.

Also, a lot of the humor stems from these two games basically acting as a parody of the biggest movie series in box-office history. And for what it's worth, I think the LEGO Star Wars games are some of the best Star Wars parodies out there (which is saying something -- has there ever been a more parodied entertainment property?).

This is the first time in years we've actually been excited to see a Hoth level in a Star Wars game. That's saying a lot, really. Stupid Hoth. Click the image to check out all Lego Star Wars 2 screens.

1UP: Do you find most of the fun stuff in the game makes the development process more fun as well, or is it one of those things where you see the same gags over and over so eventually you just want to ship it off to players?

DP: We've been looking at Chewbacca pulling arms out of stormtroopers' sockets since last fall, and I think it still manages to entertain us. Just to see him hoist himself onto a stormtrooper, grab the arms, and then hear this perfect "pop"... it gets us every time. And really, in what else but a LEGO game would that even be funny? If we did that in a traditional Star Wars game, it would probably only shock people and anger parents.

So yeah... the humor definitely makes the development process more fun, and it never really gets old for us. There's just something that's truly endearing about this game that doesn't allow it to.

They could just name this game "Chewie Pulls Everyone's Arms Off" and have an instant billion-seller. While we're at it we should retitle Phantom Menace "Jamaican Frog Doesn't Get It In The Neck." Click the image to check out all Lego Star Wars 2 screens.

1UP: Can you think of any funny stories from the development process about something that turned out a way it wasn't supposed to, or maybe some unusual research or anything like that?

DP: I think having to sort through mountains of LEGO toys certainly qualifies as "unusual research." That's what the guys at Traveller's Tales did not only to model the game's vehicles and characters after, but also from which to learn the proper aesthetic so that they could create characters like Admiral Ackbar, Grand Moff Tarkin and Bossk, who don't actually have LEGO minifigures yet. I don't think they minded the research so much...

1UP: Do you think humor is something not seen enough in games? Any thoughts as to why?

DP: I'd certainly love to see more humor in games, but in most cases it really is a tough thing to pull off. Think about your typical Hollywood movie comedy -- a good one probably averages a decent laugh every 45 seconds to a minute in a relatively short timeframe of 90 minutes or so. Those movies are often in production for almost as long as, if not longer than, your typical game -- which is an experience you're going to want quite a bit more than 90 minutes of enjoyment out of. In many cases, there's also the issue of game developers, quite frankly, just not being that funny themselves -- they're trained to design gameplay, not laughter. And outside of cut-scenes, comedic timing is also an issue since designers never know exactly where a player will be or what he will be doing at an exact moment.